Narrative Lectionary Links

Comment: For most of us, it is hard to change or do things a new way. That is true of Naaman, in our passage, and Chester and Wilson in our book. Naaman has contracted the dreaded disease of leprosy and there seems to be no cure until a girl being held captive in his household suggests the prophet Elisha. Naaman goes to see Elisha, who suggests simply that Naaman wash in the Jordan river seven times. Instead of being pleased or grateful, Naaman is angry about this suggestion, because it is a way he wouldn’t have considered. But his advisors counsel him to reconsider the suggestion and go bathe in the Jordan, which Naaman does. Elisha’s advice is right, and Naaman is made clean from his leprosy. In Chester’s Way, Chester and Wilson are best friends who do everything together and they do everything the same way. But then Lilly moves into their neighborhood and they are alarmed because she does everything differently from them. At first, they are offended by Lilly’s new ways, but eventually after they see the benefits of Lilly’s changes, they all become friends. Sometimes when we’re confronted with a change or a new way of doing something, our reaction is like that of Naaman or Chester and Wilson. But God speaks and acts in new ways, and if we are open to changes and new ways of doing things, we may experience joy and wonder.